Trinkets and Treasures

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Have you ever thought to yourself Damn I’m really good at this! And this could be anything, I mean anything at all. You could be a super mum with special skills in dealing with your children or a pediatrician, teacher or even an astronaut (ok maybe not an astronaut)

Guess what? There is a place you can finally show it off. It’s called Mumscentre, an online marketplace for parents to buy, sell and give away their children’s second hand, unwanted and unused items like clothes, toys, shoes and do much more. Although this is the core purpose of the website, it has been proven that mums don’t just want to buy and sell. They want advice, make friends and share experiences with like minded inspiring mums, which brought about “StarMums”. This can be any mum from different works of life, with special talent or skills

When I say talent I means any special skills be it in your personal or professional life. Say for example you’re a fantastic cook and you would like to share your wonderful skill with other amateurs e.g. a mouthwatering recipe or some cooking tips. Even better you could be a child behavioral expert, super nanny or a stay at home mum with expertise on child discipline and wish to guide and share your knowledge with other struggling parents. Any expertise is welcome as long as you’re ready to be the star of the show.

Come on, go on be our star mum “This is your time to shine, stand on the podium and bask in the glory of fame and good deed. Let’s celebrate you because you deserve it”. It’s a WIN!! WIN!! situation for you. You will be saving lives (ok maybe not in a brain surgeon way but still) and shining like a star that you are. You could have your section through a video blog or a question and answer session with your picture at the top of the page for a week or two and if we like you so much, we will run the discussion for a whole month.

If you will like to be our fabulous star mum or nominate someone that will be willing to be a star mum contact us at info@mumscentre.com

Friday, March 16, 2012

My son is 18month old now, which means I still have a few more years to prepare for the home work dramaYayy!!! As most parents I know would say this homework monitoring thing can be such a pain sometimes. I know people who would give anything not to go through their kid’s homework because of all the drama it comes with (Like they don’t have enough to deal with already.lol). For the ones with older kids the routine plays out like this

Mum: Go get your homework done

Child: No response

1 Hour later: Have you done your homework?

Child: In a minute

Mum: I said go do it now!!!!!

Child: Gosh mum ok ok I’ll do it

Once it’s all done after hours of shouting and lamenting, mum just wants to make sure it’s all done so she asks again and she gets an eye rolling yes answer.

For the ones with younger children I know parents have to actually make sure they do their homework by going through it with them. I know this because I have a family friend who at every opportunity shoves this responsibility on me once I visit. I’m guessing she thinks that is the number one think I look forward to doing when I visit and the fact that she doesn’t like it at all, which brings me to the pictures of the day. Here’s to parents reluctant to go through their children’s homework with them. See 3 hilarious reasons, pictures and explanation below on why you should. It is both awkward and funny. Enjoy

To make sure they get their drawings right

Make sure they understand question

Ensure they don’t offend people of a particular region

I stumbled on more hilarious real life exam answers by students on dailymail's website. Click here to see more.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Read this on a blog and I just had to post it. A newspaper reported a case of sudden infant death syndrome or suffocation as breast feeding to death because the baby died beside the mother while being breast fed as the mother sleeps (Silly misinformed media) . From what I read it seems that the baby suffocated due to the mother's breast size as it blocked the baby's airways while sucking and since the mother was sleeping, she was unable to control the situation. On a serious note this is a wake up call for new mums to be mindful and cautious about SIDS, please do the appropriate thing for your baby and not for the sake of fatigue ( I know I have used that a number of times). May the child rest in peace and may GOD bless our little ones. (Amen)

Friday, March 2, 2012

As 1st of March is world book day(Since we have a day for everything these days. Lol), I thought I should write something on reading. When I was pregnant I attended a lot of maternity classes and read a lot about the advantages of reading to your children right from the worm, till when they are born and as they grow older. I thought to myself, what a load of b---s. How crazy will I sound reading to a baby in the womb. So I didn’t do the reading to my fetus bit but I made him listen to a few of John Legends track so he can share some of mummy’s music taste.

I knew I was going to be home for at least a year after my child was born; so I thought to myself what I can do to support my child in terms of his development process. I researched it and found reviews and videos about reading and using flash cards to help children’s language and reading skills. I found a reading package called your baby can read. I was a bit skeptical at first but after thinking about it and reading reviews I thought, ok this looks good enough.

It contained series of DVD, books and flash cards of various words and pictures of objects, animals, things children are surrounded with or not on a daily basis. It recommends starting it as early as a month old. Initially I thought this is ridiculous how will a one month old be able to understand flash cards or the books I am reading to him, turns out babies thrive on persistent repetition. I have been reading different kinds of books and the baby can read pack to my son since he was 2 month old. He watches the DVD once in the morning and then playfully study the flash card with real life examples placed around him. When he was 10months he started responding to my never ending requests and questions like clap your hands, hold your head, what sound does a dog make? etc. I think he just decided to respond so I stop nagging him Lol.

He started pronouncing more words on the flash cards and books at 14 months and it has just improved from then on. He is 17months old now and he can pronounce words like umbrella, squirrel, gorilla etc. He recognises and pronounces over 40 words now. Here’s a thought for working mums 5minutes of your alone time a day every day with your little one for reading could achieve something and stay at home mums could do this at their own free time. Trust me it is worth it.

Below is an amateur video of him talking, fighting and demonstrating to my request as a motivation for anyone looking to try it if you haven’t already started.